46 Comments
 

DB is still a BB brand with a few strong groups (sponsors/levfin). HL is solidly middle market, not sure why this is controversial.

 

As a VP who is active on my BB's recruiting platform, I know several people who have taken HL over DB. Not the other way around. 

HL has upward momentum. DB is group dependent. 

Both are still excellent opportunities, let's be serious. 

 

I did my SA at Blair/Jef so may be biased, but don’t people think the ridiculous amount of deal flow makes these top MM players attractive? I don’t know much about UBS/DB, but in a two year analyst stint at a top MM you will close a ton of deals, certainly more than at a BB like UBS. Obviously the deals are smaller, but isn’t there sheer quantity of deals attractive?

 

FT a different BB than listed but generally no. 1-3B+ deals are much more complex than churning out cookie cutter MM deals. My BB does some MM deals on the side and those are significantly easier than billion $ transactions. There are always exceptions but generally if you're looking at PE, the quality of transaction matters more than quantity. Top groups at UBS and DB get a high quantity of large cap deals too, I know friends at UBS completely hammered right now on live transactions.

 

I think there's an awfully big difference between the Blair/Bairds/HLs of the world and some regional "MM". Beyond mega mergers, a deal that is 500m vs. 1.2B is not all that different. I think the "middle market" is a blanket term absorbed by firms selling local mom and pop businesses, but the true middle market or small cap companies don't lack much.

Would rather have strong deal flow and several 300m-1B deals under my belt, but that's just me.

 

UBS is just as bad as DB, cue monkey shit from UBS folks

DB used to be a powerhouse, sad to see it going down the drain

 

top groups at DB > top groups at UBS

average groups at UBS > average groups at DB

 

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